It was this that brought him to the Refuge last night,
Heaven be praised for the mercy!"
This was said with the indifference that habit is apt to create, for the
usage of leaving bodies uninterred had no influence on the feelings of the
guide, but it did not the less strike those who had descended from the
convent.
"Thou art the last that came down thyself," said one of the servants; "nor
have any come up, but those who are now safe in the convent, taking their
rest after last night's tempest."
"How canst utter this idle nonsense, Henri, when a fresh body is in the
house! This lady counted them but now, and there are four; three was the
number that I showed the Piedmontese noble whom I led from Aoste, the day
thou meanest!"
"Look to this;" said the clavier, turning abruptly away from Adelheid,
whom he was on the point of helping into the saddle.
The men entered the gloomy vault, whence they soon returned bearing a
body, which they placed with its back against the wall of the building, in
the open air. A cloak was over the head and face, as if the garment had
been thus arranged to exclude the cold.
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